I didn’t get around to sharing this bit of news last week, but Gureala was recently added to the 2008 edition of A Blog List. The list, compiled by Stefano Ricci of the Italian cool hunting blog ELMANCO in conjunction with Fubiz (France), is a global directory of the best design, graphics, fashion, advertising and new technologies blogs on the web. Major shout out to Stefano and Fubiz for the recognition! Just when I’m thinking that no one’s out there paying attention to what’s going on here on the site, I receive news like this in my inbox!

Gureala’s amongst good company, with a few of my favorite blogs and giants of the tech/cool hunting game also making appearances on the list: Kanye, Engadget, Jean Snow and Hypebeast to name a few. There are tons of great blogs to be discovered on the list, so do yourself a favor and explore the thing in its entirety!

Staying on the theme of innovation…If you have a some innovative ideas in mind that you’re dying to share with the world, and you just so happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Monterey, California this weekend, make an effort to stop by the Bil Conference. Unlike many of the super exclusive tech/design/idea-sharing conferences that we sometimes hear about, Bil is open to any and everyone and its completely free to attend. The official site sums up the general idea behind Bil like this:

BIL is…
an open, self-organizing, emergent, and anarchic science and technology conference.
Nobody is in charge.
If you want to come, just show up.
If you have an idea to spread, start talking.
If someone is saying something interesting, stop and listen.

Pretty simple. In the meantime, have a look at this tentative list of presenters and presentations.

Some Four huge announcements out of San Francisco today as Steve jobs delivered his annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo. Sadly, there’s still no word on an official IM client for the iPhone, however, 3rd party apps should be coming soon –software developer kits are set for release in February. Now, let’s take a look at today’s announcements:

#1 - Macbook Air:

Apple today introduced the world’s thinnest notebook: MacBook Air. It measures an unprecedented 0.16 inches at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. In addition to a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, MacBook Air offers a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support, letting users pinch, rotate and swipe. The new notebook is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and it includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1. Starting at just $1,799, MacBook Air begins shipping in two weeks.

#2 - Time Capsule

A backup appliance that works seamlessly with Time Machine to automatically and wirelessly back up everything on one or more Macs running Mac OS X Leopard, Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. “Bring Time Capsule home, plug it in, click a few buttons on your Macs and voilà—all the Macs in your house are being backed up automatically, every hour of every day,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. When it ships in February, Time Capsule will be available in models featuring 500GB and 1TB hard drives for $299 and $499, respectively.

#3 - iTunes Movie Rentals

Available today with the free download of iTunes 7.6, iTunes Movie Rentals allows customers to rent movies for as little as $2.99 and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods, iPhone and Apple TV. Featuring movies from all the major movie studios—20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema—iTunes Movie Rentals is expected to offer more than 1,000 movie titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles featuring stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Movies can be rented directly from a widescreen TV using Apple TV.

#4 - iPhone/iPod Touch Updates

iPhone Software Update 1.1.3, a free software update available today via iTunes 7.5 or later, brings significant new features to iPhone. After installing the update, iPhone customers will be able to automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application; text message multiple people in one message; create Web Clips for their favorite websites; customize their home screen; and watch movies rented from the new iTunes Movie Rentals right on their iPhone.

With the installation of this major software upgrade, the best iPod becomes even more: the world’s best Wi-Fi mobile device. The upgrade—available from iTunes for just $19.99—adds five more great mobile applications to iPod touch: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes. It also includes such new features as Web Clips, a customizable home screen, and the ability to watch iTunes Movie Rentals on iPod touch.

Still away enjoying the holidays!
Things will be back to full speed around here very soon.
Peace.

I can’t remember exactly how I stumbled across the Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA), but what I do know for sure, is that I lose track of time way too easy while surfing their website. No joke. I’ll head over to check out some of their latest updates, and before I know it, I’ve spent nearly two hours going through their collection of video lectures. It’s that serious. For those not yet familiar with the RBMA, it’s an annual event that brings together aspiring musicians from around the globe, and provides them with “a platform for the exchange of musical knowledge and ideas” (and if you couldn’t tell by the name, it’s sponsored by the makers of Red Bull Energy Drink). Among the many highlights of the two week long event, are the lectures/Q&A sessions which feature many well known figures of the music industry (think along the lines of “Inside the Actor’s Studio”). They’re all recorded and catalogued on the academy’s website for your viewing pleasure. A few of my favorites: The Mizell Brothers, DJ Premier, Questlove of The Roots, Just Blaze, Madlib, Phonte of Little Brother…damn, its just too many to name. So yeah, peep the full list here, and enjoy. While you’re at it, check out some of the participant profiles as well, there’s lots of talent to be found.